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Ratite farming
Ratites are a group of birds that includes ostriches, emu, rheas, cassowaries, and kiwis. Lacking the large keel on the breast bone where flight muscles attach, these birds are unable to fly. The most economically important species of ratites are the ostrich and the emu, with the rhea a distant third. The cassowary is rare and is not considered to have any economic importance, while the kiwi is an oddity and is virtually absent from most countries. Ratite management is similar to both livestock and poultry management. Commercial ratite production for meat and leather (ostrich, emu, rhea), feathers (ostrich) and oil (emu) occurs worldwide. The management and diseases of the large ratites are similar. Ratite meat is evaluated similarly for other red meat species through the determination of carcass traits, physical and chemical properties and palatability traits. Meat production for ratites is primarily under controlled farming and management schemes.
The department of agriculture and land affairs has failed to comment on the extension of a ban by the European Union (EU) on imports of South African ostrich products to European countries.
Segwati Mahlangu, the department's spokesperson, promised to issue a media release and to explain the situation after lunch today, but numerous attempts to reach him afterwards were unsuccessful.
The EU issued a statement from Brussels this week, saying it has extended until the end of March next...
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The EU's Standing Committee for the Food Chain and Animal Health has agreed on a European Commission proposal to extend the suspension of import of live ratites (ostriches) and their eggs, meat and products as well as pet birds from South Africa until 31 March 2005.
The ban was introduced in August, after the confirmation of avian influenza outbreaks in ratite farms. It was applicable until 1 January 2005.
The Commission said although it appears that the disease situation has improved,...
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The SA Veterinary Association (Sava) "strongly suspect" that the use of untreated surface water transferred the avian influenza virus to ostrich flocks in the Eastern Cape, Sava said today.
Open dams or free-running water may have spread the virus to ostriches, which should drink treated water. Other measures could prevent infection, Sava said.
"It is ... important to discourage the interaction of wild birds with ostriches and free range poultry," said Banie Penzhorn, the Sava president,...
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The department of agriculture has placed an indefinite ban on all ostrich and poultry exports after the outbreak of avian influenza virus, or bird flu, in the Eastern Cape.
The two Eastern Cape farms where the virus was diagnosed are under a 60-day quarantine and those within a 10km radius are under a 30-day quarantine.
The ostrich industry, which exported R1,2-billion in products a year, could face losses of up to R100-million if the ban remained in place for more than a month, said...
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The government is to slaughter at least 30 000 ostriches in the Eastern Cape in a bid to fight the deadly bird flu epidemic that is threatening the poultry industry.
Following the death from avian flu of at least 2 000 birds in the Middleton area near Somerset East, numerous roadblocks were set up to stop the movement of live birds or ostrich products between the Eastern Cape and Western Cape to prevent the spread of the disease.
In drastic steps to stop the outbreak from becoming a major...
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At least 1500 ostriches have died following the outbreak of ravaging bird flu in the Eastern Cape, and the health and agriculture department says 20 to 200 ostriches have died per day since the flu was first diagnosed on July 25.
Police and soldiers are manning roadblocks in the Somerset east area of the Eastern Cape to enforce a quarantine following an outbreak of avian influenza. "We have quarantined 15 farms in the area and extended the quarantine area radius to 30 kilometres," Mahlangu...
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